Virginio Orsini

Virginio Orsini (1434-8 January 1497) was an Italian condottiero and the head of the House of Orsini at the time of its feud with Pope Alexander VI.

Biography
Virginio Orsini was born into the noble Orsini family of Rome, and Pope Sixtus IV made him a general of the Papal States. In 1482, he defeated the army of the Kingdom of Naples at Campo Morto, and he attempted to exterminate the rival Colonna family in 1484, an act that was stopped by the College of Cardinals. After Pope Alexander VI's rise to power, Orsini feared that he would curb the power of the Roman nobility, and he used Neapolitan funds to buy the castles of Cerveteri and Anguillara from Franceschetto Cybo, the son of the pro-Orsini Pope Innocent VIII. Orsini was also named Constable of Naples, an honorary title that signified his shift in loyalty. In December 1494, when King Charles VIII of France occupied Rome, Orsini clamored for Alexander's deposition, siding with the French; he betrayed both Naples and the Papacy. Orsini followed the French on campaign against Naples and was arrested and imprisoned by King Ferdinand II of Naples after the Battle of Fornovo in 1495; on 8 January 1497, he was poisoned in prison at the Castel Dell'Ovo.